Sad News in Silicon Valley

Laura had sad news this week – her company is not doing well. When she got back from visiting Japan she discovered an email that had gone out, telling staff that the company was going to shut down for the entire Thanksgiving week, and they would have to take unpaid leave if they didn’t have vacation time. The email tried to make it sound like a good thing, “enjoy some quality time with your family and friends”, but of course we were thinking, “They can’t make payroll.”

Laura immediately started sending out resumes. I’m expecting she will get a great response, because she has everything they are looking for in Silicon Valley – data analytics, leadership experience, youth, creativity, great ideas, hard work and determination. It’s going to be a challenge for her move and learn a new job all while continuing to work on her master’s degree, but she’ll pull it off.

Then yesterday, her company laid off about ¼ of the staff, at all levels including executives. They did not lay off Laura! But still, it must have been traumatic to watch. I’m guessing ¼ of the company would have been about 50 people. There was a security guard posted in the lobby, and they walked people out, one at a time. Some were allowed a few minutes to say good-bye to coworkers, others were walked straight out. The entire morning staff just stood around waiting to see if they were going to be tapped on the shoulder to go. Can you imagine? Watching people being taken out and waiting to see if you’re going to be next? It makes me cry to think about it. Laura’s manager told her when she first got in that she would be staying, but most were not so lucky.